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Wellness

The magnitude of this significant day was not lost on me. I love New Year's, not the eve spent watching the ball drop in Times Square, but the wee hours of the new year's first sunrise.

Like most years, I welcomed this new year in the small beach community our family loves. Waking before the moon retired, I tiptoed through the hushed house, hopped on my bike and pedaled the few minutes to the ocean. In either direction, the white sand beach was completely barren. This is my new year tradition, a solo...Read more

As a young educator, I had the privilege of spending time in Cape Town, South Africa. I was there not long after apartheid ended and a new democracy was developing. Along with this new democracy came many changes in education, especially for people of color as adequate education had been denied them for many years. Many injustices, due to a corrupt government and a racially segregated population, prevented an entire generation from reaching their substantial potential. People were forced to live in township squalor, and education was minimal at best. While there, I worked with teachers...Read more

As you grow and develop as an athlete, your individual skills also improve. In team sports, this individuality may seem lost or insignificant. Nothing could be further from the truth. The better, more confident the individual is, the better the team will be. An athlete who knows their own ability level and enjoys participating with others in a team sport will enhance and improve the overall performance of the team. A piece of that growth is clearly defining the role of each player.

All team sports have various roles that must be performed simultaneously at a high level to be...Read more

If you have joined your child for lunch in the dining room lately, you’ve probably noticed the addition of several bins and posters along the side wall. As we’ve settled into our routine here at the beginning of the year, students and staff are redoubling their efforts to make Rossman a more sustainable school. One of the main areas of focus has been decreasing the waste created in our dining room and correctly managing the waste we do create.

When students are finished with their lunches, they carry their trays to the waste station on the side of the dining room. It is here that...Read more

Our students, families, faculty and staff love being part of the intimate and tight-knit Rossman community. Part of being a small school means that we are structured with one class per grade level. We believe this comes with many advantages for our children and families. Here are a few that we believe make a big impact in the educational experience of Rossman students:

Close relationships

Over their eight years at Rossman from their first days in JK through sixth grade graduation, students and parents alike form a tight bond amongst each other. These close...Read more

“Thank you.” These magic words, said frequently, are so simple yet so powerful. They can make a world of difference and go a long way in everyday life. Kids utter these words after they are given a cookie, a cup of juice, a toy or help up from a fall. Teaching our children to be thankful and show gratitude for both big and small gestures is imperative to raising a whole, well-rounded individual.

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” These wise words by Oprah Winfrey underscore the...Read more

When you hear the word sustainable, what comes to mind? Recycling? Composting? “Going green”? Rossman’s Upper School students began the school year by learning that this word means a whole lot more than that! After several activities in science class, they’ve started to develop a much deeper understanding of the concept. Our staff has also been discussing the meaning of sustainability and how we can more fully incorporate the process of educating for sustainability at Rossman School.

The accepted definition of sustainability is “when the environmental, economic, and social needs of...Read more

How many times have you had to utter those words? Parents know the importance of sleep in the development and growth of a child. Sleep-deprived children have more trouble paying attention, more behavioral issues, and are more likely to be overweight (1).

According to the National Sleep Foundation, kids between the ages of 6 and 13 need 9-11 hours of sleep every night. So, in the age of competitive sports, smart phones, YouTube, video games and homework, how can we ensure that our kids are getting the recommended amount of daily sleep? Kenneth Schuster, a...Read more

Young children, like adults, can feel stressed. Can you recognize when your child is stressed? A consumer survey by WebMD showed that children often show stress by displaying negative behaviors. Increased arguing, whining, aggression or worry are just a few examples. Sometimes the stress is manifested by physical symptoms such as stomach pain, headaches, decreased concentration or difficulty sleeping. So, what can we, as parents, do to help our children with stress?

There are a few ways that parents can help reduce the stress in our children’s lives:

Let’s admit it. We have all done it — dropped a delicious morsel on the floor, picked it up, wiped it off, and then put it in our mouth.

In 2016, researchers at Rutgers University in New Jersey found that bacteria can contaminate food in less than one second! The research study leader, Dr. Donald Schaffner, says that bacteria transfer from surface to food instantaneously. When researchers evaluated the transfer of bacteria from surface to food, they concluded that the longer the food item was exposed to “dirty” surfaces and the more moisture present, the worse the spread of the...Read more